‘Back on board’: Pauline Hanson’s political update following health scare

April hasn’t been the easiest month for Pauline Hanson and following a series of health problems including a tick bite and emergency surgery to remove her appendix, the One Nation leader has returned to social media with a new video and to give fans an update on her health.

“Well I’m back on board and only just after my appendix operation last week,” Hanson said in the video.

“To everyone who sent me best wishes and support, thank you very very much. I read a lot of your posts and it was very encouraging.”

Fans will recall Hanson originally thought she was ill with food poisoning when she experienced stomach pains earlier this month. After visiting a GP and undergoing scans and blood tests, doctors confirmed she needed to have her appendix removed.

Sharing a photograph of herself in hospital, the politician explained she was in pain after surgery but that it was nothing compared to the pain she was in before her operation.

Read more: ‘You realise how helpless you are’: Pauline Hanson shares health update

In her latest video, Hanson explained that many Australians weren’t sure which party to vote for at next month’s election on May 18 because they “don’t trust them” or “believe them”.

“Who’s going to run the country?” she asked. “The UN or the unions? Or possibly both?”

Hanson claimed One Nation’s role in parliament over the past three years gave the public a voice, raised issues and got a lot done, with the government taking up a lot of policies and issues directly raised by her. She also confirmed One Nation candidates would run in every state.

“I want to continue that and it’s very important that we do extremely well at this election and get more people elected to the senate around the country,” she explained.

She said One Nation was up against the “party machines” in the election and encouraged people to vote so One Nation could continue its work surrounding the Bradfield Scheme, family court matters and reducing immigration.

One Nation also issued a statement about the upcoming election.

“There’s never been a more important time for us to have a say in our country’s future than now,” the statement read. “Do you want the same old rubbish you’ve been dealt, election after election, or do you want to have someone in there nipping at their heels, listening to what the people want?”

Read more: Pauline Hanson breaks silence and delivers bombshell press conference

One Nation was thrown into the spotlight last month after the Al-Jazeera documentary How to Sell A Massacre aired on the ABC. It featured One Nation’s Chief of Staff James Ashby and Queensland leader Steve Dickson appearing to lobby for cash donations from the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) to water down Australia’s gun laws. Another clip showed Pauline herself apparently suggesting that the 1996 Port Arthur massacre was a conspiracy theory.

Hanson later said the documentary was a “political attack” by Al Jazeera in cooperation with the ABC and described the Al Jazeera investigation as a “false story”.

Which party will you be voting for at the next election?